Suspect in Cupertino killing may be in Los Angeles; children witnessed the attacks

Share this:

Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies are still looking for a landscape contractor, Huaichang Zhao, 45, of Fremont. He is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing about 200 pounds. He was last seen wearing a blue jacket or shirt.

The search for the killer of a 41-year-old Cupertino woman stretched to Los Angeles on Tuesday as sheriff’s deputies followed the trail of a Fremont landscape contractor sought in the attacks at the couple’s new home on Friday.

Authorities also confirmed Tuesday that the 10-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son of Wei Wei Li and Bing Yi witnessed the attacks on their parents before the daughter was able to make a 911 call. Li died at the scene.

Detectives from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office were in the Monterey Park area of Los Angeles on Tuesday, looking for Huaichang Zhao, who is believed to have attacked Li and Yi with some kind of blunt object before fleeing in his white pickup truck, said spokesman Sgt. Don Morrissey.

Zhao ditched his truck in San Jose and then apparently “was dropped off in Monterey Park,” Morrissey said. “He may be there right now or in the Chinatown area of Los Angeles,” he said.

The sheriff’s department issued a press release to media in Los Angeles late Tuesday, asking for the public’s help in locating Zhao.

Detectives learned late Sunday night that Zhao had fled Silicon Valley on Friday.

Sheriff’s officials have been reluctant to discuss a possible motive in the case. Neighbors had reported hearing Zhao arguing with Li and Yi before the attacks. The couple had recently moved into the two-story home on Berry Court in Cupertino and Zhao had only worked for them for a short time.

Undersheriff John Hirokawa told the Mercury News that detectives believe “some type of landscaping tool” was used in the attacks.

The daughter placed the 911 call at 8:50 a.m. Friday. Deputies arrived to find Li dead and her husband in need of treatment at a hospital, though his injuries were not life threatening. The obviously distraught children were placed in protective custody.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 408-808-4500. Those wishing to remain anonymous may call the sheriff’s office tip line at 408-808-4431.

Violent police encounters in California last year led to the deaths of 157 people and six officers, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday in a report that provides the first statewide tally on police use-of-force incidents.